Potato Salad, Hold the Mayo

Hate to break it to you guys, but there’re more ways to dress a potato salad than either mayo or vinegar and bacon. Please, if only for the sake of the potatoes, let’s explore some new dimensions in picnic sides.

VINAIGRETTE FOR THE WIN

A bold Dijon vinaigrette and tons of fresh herbs including flat-leaf parsley, tarragon, and dill give this CHOW potato salad loads of rustic French personality. Photo by Chris Rochelle

THE CHEESE SURPRISE

Take a tip from Dara of Cookin’ Canuck and skip the dressing altogether, bringing on the flavor with bold ingredients like Gorgonzola, sage, and chiles instead. Photo from CookinCanuck.com

ALOO FOREVER

Nurture your inner desi with this salad from The Food in My Beard, marrying the flavors of aloo gobi (curried cauliflower and potatoes) with traditional potato salad. Photo from Tablespoon.com

SWEET SUE

Who says you even have to stick with red or white potatoes? Home cook Sue Ashline’s sweet potato salad from Saveur combines citrus vinaigrette and candied ginger to create a side that no one’s expecting. Photo by James Oseland / Saveur

GRILL TO TABLE

Heidi from 101 Cookbooks puts the emphasis on “salad” for these grilled potatoes with squash and lettuce in a delicious Asian-inspired vinaigrette. Photo from 101Cookbooks.com

SOUR CREAM TO THE RESCUE

This Aida Mollenkamp recipe on CHOW with peas, bacon, shallots, and mint ditches the mayo for sour cream. Photo by Chris Rochelle

Leena Trivedi-Grenier is a Bay Area food writer and cooking teacher with an undying love for pot stickers. She earned her master’s in gastronomy from Le Cordon Bleu. Her writing appears on her blog Leena Eats and in various food-based encyclopedias.